from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0415shots15.html
742 pupils lack shots, face action
District threatens to suspend them
Katy Scott
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 15, 2003 12:00 AM
A fast-growing district in the far West Valley may have to suspend nearly 750 students, taking its toughest measure yet to get students immunized against childhood diseases.
More than 14 percent of students in the Litchfield Elementary District don't have their required shots, a rate that startles state health officials used to a 95 percent immunization rate.
Although school officials in Arizona routinely warn families that their children will be taken out of school if they don't follow state law, the Litchfield threat is rare because it could affect so many students.
Officials talk of using a gymnasium to hold students until parents pick them up if they fail to meet the district's April 28 deadline.
The immunization delinquency is concentrated in the district's two middle schools, one just opened in January.
Superintendent Tom Heck said the district's main problem is with seventh-graders. A 2-year-old regulation requires those students to get a host of new shots, including a series for hepatitis B.
Of Litchfield's 1,850 middle school students, nearly 32 percent aren't up to date on their immunizations, according to district records.
"That's not common. It is a very high number," said Andie Denious, an immunization services manager with the state. "It's a matter of suspending the kids, as state law requires. They aren't suspending. Parents realize there's no bite."
School officials agree that their lack of enforcement is to blame, as well as rapid growth that put 1,000 new students in the district this year.
Heck said that with the opening of the new middle school this year, the district didn't have enough manpower to keep up with immunization records.
"It snowballed on us, and it got out of hand," Heck said. The school started to get tough after the state Department of Health Services, which monitors school immunizations, said four of the district's seven schools were breaking the law.
The district has tried to get parents' attention. At least two notices were mailed to parents this school year, District Health Coordinator Patricia Bell said.
On Monday, the district started to send out final notices, warning parents that if their children's immunizations aren't current by April 28, the students will be taken out of classes.
"Our goal is to try to get the kids in compliance," Bell said. The state health department says that students without current shots shouldn't be allowed to register for school. If they're already enrolled, they must be suspended. But the district relaxed that policy and registered students who didn't have all their shots, Bell said.
Denious, of the state health department, said that while some districts had trouble getting students up-to-date with the new requirements two years ago, most have since caught up.
Parents are getting the same one-page notice/immunization form this week that has been sent out before - one that ends with a sentence warning that students will be suspended.
Bell and Heck stressed that this time, the district is serious.
"I couldn't have made it easier for these parents," Bell said.
The district has sent out information on free immunization clinics and sponsored three Saturday clinics at schools.
"Kids need to be in school, I know," Bell said. "But the only way we seem to get folks to comply is to say, 'We'll exclude them.' "
So far, she said, most parents have been understanding.
Arabeth Gilliland said a district notice prompted her to take her seventh-grade son to get his shots. She said she thinks most parents just forget about immunizations, especially when series like hepatitis B are given over a period of months. Still, she agrees with the district's plan to get students immunized.
"They wouldn't have to do this if parents did what they're supposed to do," Gilliland said.
For information on free immunization clinics in the area, call (602) 263-8856.